The Beaches on going viral, latest album 'Blame My Ex', and new single 'Jocelyn' • Interview • DIY Magazine

After more than a decade as a band and copious amounts of critical acclaim in their native Canada, indie-rock quartet The Beaches have finally - thanks to a viral hit with last year’s single ‘Blame Brett’ - been reaching ears far away from hometown Toronto.

Comprised of sisters Jordan (lead vocals, bass) and Kylie Miller (guitar), keyboard and guitarist Leandra Earl and drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel, they’ve spent late summer on a sold-out UK tour with pit stops at Reading and Leeds and, following last year’s second album ‘Blame My Ex’, have just put out anthemic new track ‘Jocelyn’. We caught up with Jordan to dig into the band’s long-in-the-making popularity surge, and how The Beaches are fully owning their femininity.

How does it feel to have had a viral moment with your single ‘Blame Brett’? Did you anticipate the reaction?
It’s surreal because we’ve been doing it for so long; we’ve been playing together for almost 15 years, and we’ve worked so hard. You [can] get a bit of imposter syndrome. Every artist hopes their next song will take off or have a viral moment, and I did have a sneaky suspicion. I was broken up with just before all the COVID relationships ended - when we put the track out, a lot of people were experiencing heartbreak right after I did and connected to the message.

Was there ever any hesitation about explicitly naming your ex on the track?
We’d been broken up for about six months. I called him and said, ‘I’ve got this funny idea for a song. It’s not really about you, it’s about me, but you are named in it’. We tried other names but it works best with the alliteration. He thought it was cheeky and fun, and then he didn’t like it when it went viral, but he’s since come around again and his band actually covered it!

Would you describe your album ‘Blame My Ex’ as a breakup album?
Yes, definitely. But it’s a happy-sad record. That’s what I want my ex to feel like: like he can cry and dance at the same time. I find it very difficult to be vulnerable and open; I like to bathe a lot of things in humour. When I was going through my breakup, it wasn’t purely a bad experience - I experienced a lot of joy and a lot of sadness. It’s about rediscovering yourself while mourning the loss of a relationship.

Can you tell us a little bit about the origins of the band?
Me and my sister, Kylie, have been playing together since we were six and seven. We formed the band in high school with Eliza, and Leanne joined not long after. I remember playing a midnight slot at a local bar in Toronto when we were still in high school - I don’t know how we were allowed to do that! A couple of years back, after we had just been dropped by our second label, our agent in Canada was like, ‘If this next record isn’t the thing that breaks you internationally, I don’t know how successful a career you guys can have’. That motivated us and we wrote a record that we would want to listen to.

“I think it’s the most human thing ever to have low self esteem, and to compare yourself to other people.” — Jordan Miller

Do you feel like The Beaches’ sound and dynamic has changed over time?
Yes, definitely. It’s still a collaborative experience but our sound has changed a lot. On ‘Blame My Ex’, as an album, you can hear all our previous work within it but also none of it. It’s definitely the most feminine and least rocky. When we started out, being an all-girl band, we really rejected that label and connotation and we wanted to make our sound as hardcore as possible in order to get male fans. Now the culture’s kind of come around. I don’t really care what men think about our music. The people I’m making music for are the girls, gays and theys.

How does it feel to be playing on your first sold-out UK tour and what do you want people to take away from The Beaches’ shows?
It’s a mindfuck that we sold out this tour and we’re able to live out our dreams! I hope what [the audience] take away from us is that it’s cool to be yourselves and cool to be messy and strange. And that the people who will always have your back will be your girlfriends.

You’ve got a new song out, ‘Jocelyn’ - tell us a bit about how the track came together. Do you have any standout memories from writing/ recording it?
Jocelyn had kind of an interesting inception! When we went back into the studio to start working on the next record, we were still experiencing the mind-warping feeling of going viral. But, as that was happening, I was in a weird place with my mental health; I was still recovering from the loss of my breakup; still experiencing quite a lot of self doubt. It was a complicated juxtaposition, experiencing a low self image while a lot of people are praising you. So we decided to write about that. I believe it was [‘Jocelyn’ and ‘Blame My Ex’ co-producer] Lowell who mentioned it could be fun to write about a real fan and sing this song to her, and she just picked the name Jocelyn. So we checked our Instagram to see if anyone followed us with that name, and we found this really cool girl. The song just kind of came together after that.

‘Jocelyn’ has a PHD in politics - what did you want the song to say about self esteem and the (always terrible) act of comparing yourself to others?
I don’t think that we were ever trying to be preachy with any particular message. It was really just about what we were going through personally at the time. That being said, I think it’s the most human thing ever to have low self esteem, and to compare yourself to other people. I guess what I’m trying to say in the song is you never know what’s going on with other people’s inner lives. Everyone is messy. Everyone is complicated.

This is your second new single of 2024 - what can we expect next from The Beaches?
New music! More great live music. And more trouble…

‘Blame My Ex’ and ‘Jocelyn’ are out now via AWAL Recordings.

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